Murrayfield ticket sales for Euro final heading for 60,000
Ticket sales for Saturday’s European Champions Cup final between Saracens and Clermont Auvergne at BT Murrayfield are currently around the 55,000 mark, The Scotsman understands.
Scotland’s national stadium is hosting European professional club rugby’s showpiece occasion for a third time and, with a couple of days still to go, anything approaching the 60,000 mark would represent a healthy gate.
Hopes of what could have been a swift sell-out were hit when the two Irish semifinalists Leinster and Munster lost last month. Both have a strong tradition of travelling support and there is a large Irish population, particularly students, in Edinburgh and Scotland generally.
Saracens may be the current European and English champions but have a niche fanbase and, while Clermont have a strong and passionate local support, were not expected to travel in vast numbers.
But the current figure means there will be a bigger crowd than the 52,000 who watched the all-french final between Toulouse and Stade Francais the first time Murrayfield hosted the final in 2005. Four years later was a sell-out when Leinster beat Leicester.
Sales for tomorrow’s Challenge Cup final between Gloucester and Stade Francais are believed to be around the 25,000 mark.
Meanwhile, Ali Price, pictured, has been voted Glasgow Warriors Mccrea Financial Services Player of the Season.
Voted Most Improved Player at last season’s awards, Price, 24, was a key performer in Glasgow’s historic run to the European Champions Cup quarterfinals and made his international breakthrough this season, taking the Scotland No 9 jersey when Greig Laidlaw was injured after making his debut off the bench against Georgia in the autumn Tests.
At last night’s awards dinner in Glasgow, attended by Scotland boss and now former Glasgow coach Gregor Townsend, Nick Grigg, who was selected in Scotland’s summer tour squad earlier this week, was voted the Denholm Oilfield Services Players’ Player of the Season in his first full year as a professional. Scott Cummings was Young Player of the Season and the Most Improved award went to another lock Brian Alainu’uese, who signed for the Warriors in October. At the other end of the M8, Edinburgh scrum-half Sean Kennedy has signed a new two-year deal. The 26-year-old has made 55 appearances for the club and will vie with Nathan Fowles and Sam Hidalgo-clyne for the No 9 jersey next season.
Captain Scott Riddell returns to the Scotland Sevens squad ahead of the final World Rugby HSBC Sevens Series tournaments in Paris this weekend and London a week later. Riddell is included for the first time since Vancouver having recovered from injury. Jack Cuthbert will make his Scotland Sevens debut, six years on from his XVS debut v Ireland. Edinburgh’s Glenn Bryce is involved having scored for his club in the 1872 Cup clash against Glasgow last weekend and George Horne is also recalled.